Do No Evil - My Fat Arse

26.10.05

Google Webaccelerator : http://webaccelerator.google.com/dc.html

So why is google pushing the MSI down my NECK !!!! on the download page we have this :

<!--
function dl() {
top.location='GoogleWebAcceleratorSetup.msi';
}
-->
 </script>
</head>
<body topmargin="2" onload="dl()" alink="#ff0000" link="#0000cc"
 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"
 vlink="#800080">

so basically they fire a javascript ON Load at the MSI file…

DaveN say thats Evil !!

14 Comments

  • 1

    WTF is an MSI file?

    Nick W
    http://www.threadwatch.org

    26th October 2005 @ 16:52

  • 2

    it’s a windows installer file, not sure what the acronym stands for tho.

    mcavill

    26th October 2005 @ 17:02

  • 3

    MSI = MicroSoft Installer..

    DaveN

    26th October 2005 @ 17:03

  • 4

    Those filthy bastards….

    claus
    http://nah...

    26th October 2005 @ 18:28

  • 5

    you can say “dave you don’t have a fat arse” you know that don’t you

    DaveN

    26th October 2005 @ 18:35

  • 6

    I’m not sure what your point is. If you go to http://webaccelerator.google.com/ and you don’t get the option to download GWA. You have to click on Learn More to get to http://webaccelerator.google.com/support.html
    and then at that point you can click Download Google Web Accelerator, and you go to http://webaccelerator.google.com/index.html
    which is the final page that gives you a “Download Now” button in bold.

    Clicking the big “Download Now” button takes you to http://webaccelerator.google.com/dc.html where the download actually starts. It’s not like we’re foisting this off on people; it takes several clicks to get to the download page..

    Matt Cutts
    http://www.mattcutts.com/

    26th October 2005 @ 19:06

  • 7

    *cough*

    “dave you don’t have a fat arse”

    *cough*

    mivox
    http://rant.mivox.com/

    27th October 2005 @ 00:35

  • 8

    I’m gonna take a different line here, and it’s semi in support of Google.

    If you go to the web accelerator bandwidth and content thieving sign up page (and they call me a dirty spammer!) you then have to jump through a few hoops to get to the download. If you actually get that far then yuo are asking for the file to be downloaded and this eases the installation and download.

    What would be more sensible is ensurnig you ONLY get there if you have jumped through those previous hoops. Google may have said the trial is closed but leaving the door open like this means it is not and IMHO they know that it will be linked to directly.

    JasonD
    http://logic.wordpress.com

    27th October 2005 @ 09:55

  • 9

    Oh and Dave. Of course your bum doesn’t look big in that dress :)

    JasonD
    http://logic.wordpress.com

    27th October 2005 @ 09:55

  • 10

    agreed jason and that was kinda my point.. due to the fact that they keep taking the homepage down people start linking to the DC page ..

    DaveN

    DaveN

    27th October 2005 @ 10:01

  • 11

    Okay so you don’t have a fat arse, but if Matt is right above - and he probably is - then the nice people@Google.corp are not exactly filthy bastards either.

    Due to virus concerns and the like it’s very bad form to initiate an install like that (and an install is *not* the same as a download). So, it’s still a pretty stupid thing to do.

    However, as it appears to be on a well hidden page my words before were too harsh. Still way too stupid (as in ignorant) to seem legit, but not directly evil, imho.

    claus
    http://got-so-many-uris-i-dont-know-which-to-pick

    27th October 2005 @ 17:44

  • 12

    install now != download now

    by taking the route of a POST transaction instead of displaying a normal link, a user does not have the option of “save link as”, which *would* be a download.

    true, i can examine the page using view source and then use wget to retrieve the file, but this is more work than most users are willing to do, and more complicated than many users are able to handle.

    it’s a prime example of web 2.0 ethics.

    plumsauce
    http://clickbench.com/

    29th October 2005 @ 07:25

  • 13

    *off topic*

    Does the Google Accellerator work well and are it worth installing?

    Kim @ Neteffects
    http://www.neteffects.biz

    30th October 2005 @ 01:53

  • 14

    Perhaps you should also be asking why IE should let this happen…

    Ian

    14th November 2005 @ 10:41

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